Sinead’s double delight bodes well for season

Commonwealth Games competitor Tony Murphy picked up runner-up in both the mens doubles and mixed doubles.

Seeded number one in the mixed doubles, Sinead, who will be in the Irish side for the forthcoming European Mixed Team Qualifiers in Dublin against Bulgaria, Norway and Slovakia, and Ciaran Chambers were taken to three sets by Prakash Nash and Crona Rooney before coming through 21/16 in the decider.

As expected, it was Tony Murphy and Jennie King who were to face the Alpha brother and sister partnership in the final, their progress including a 21/16 21/13 win over the seeded Daniel Magee and Catriona Farrell in the quarters, though the comprehensive 21/9 21/10 final result would have a disappointment for the Murphy/King partnership.

There were also good performances from Laura Hennessy and Alpha’s John Almond in the mixed too when they reached the semi-final beating Norman Lau and Moya Ryan 21-13 in the deciding set of the quarters.

In the absence of her regular partner, Caroline Black Sinead partnered Jennie King to the womens doubles title defeating Aisling Ryan and Moya Ryan 21/9 21/11 in the final but the mens doubles was probably the keenest of all the finals, not only for the Alpha players involved.

John Amond partnered former international Mark Topping and caused the top seeds Daniel Magee and Niall Ttierney just a few problems in their 21/16 21/16 quarter-final clash. Stuart Lightbody was also making his first tournament start since missing out on the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games selection linked up with Alpha teammate Tony Murphy in the absence of Tony Stephenson and after a three-set victory over Karl Crawford and Andrew Fenner, their clash in the semi with Ciaran Chambers and Ryan Stewart was eagerly awaited.

Both Alpha partnerships did not disappoint with the latter pair taking the opening set 21/7 only for Lightbody and Murphy to take the next two 21/10 21/14 in just short of half-an-hour to book their place against Quiles and Magee who had knocked out the top seeds Magee and Tierney 21/18 21/17.

In the final, the Alpha pair were to make a good start taking the opening set 21/10 but Joshua Magee, who had lifted the mens singles title, and Juan Manuel Fernandez Quiles levelled to take the final into a deciding set. In an exciting end to the match it was to prove just too much for the Alpha pair in this their first outing and they lost 21/19.

In the Mens Singles, Norman Lau reached the quarter-finals before losing out to top seeded Joshua Magee 21/21 21/8 while Curtis Presho was beaten 21/11 21/8 by Nigel Boyne who knocked out theseeded Mark Brady while Tony Murphy went down 21/5 21/12 torunner-up Quiles.